Turn to the book of Philemon.
I suppose I should probably put
this on. Philemon is right before Hebrews,
so if you get to Hebrews chapter 1 and just turn back one page,
you'll find Philemon. This is a very interesting epistle.
This is the shortest of Paul's epistles. It's 335 words exactly
in the Greek, so the shortest of all of them. And it's written
to a particular church. It's a church in Colossae. And
so if you're familiar, everybody knows the Book of Colossians.
That's Paul's general epistle to all the churches in Colossae. But this epistle is different.
It's to one particular church, and particularly to one man,
this man Philemon. And there's a word that you will
not find anywhere in this epistle. And that word is intercession. You won't find it anywhere in
these words, but that is the point of this story. whole thing
is about how Christ makes and made effective intercession for
His people. That's what the whole thing is
about. Now Paul in this epistle makes intercession for a man
named Onesimus. Onesimus is a servant, a slave. He is a wayward servant, a wayward
slave. He served under this man Philemon
in his house and he wronged Philemon in some way. We don't know how,
the Scripture doesn't tell us. Maybe he stole from him, he embezzled
money, something like that. But he has wronged his master
and he flees. He goes to Rome and something
great happens there, something wonderful. He finds himself lost.
probably doesn't know anybody in Rome, he's probably never
been there before, but there's somebody else who is in Rome
too. You know who's there? Paul. Paul is a Roman prisoner at the
time. And his prisonership is unconventional. He's actually
on house arrest. So he can't leave his home, but
men can come to him and he preaches the gospel to everybody who comes.
Well, who shows up one day? Onesimus. And under Paul's preaching,
the Lord saves Onesimus. And what Onesimus wants at this
point is to go back. He wants to go back to Philemon.
He wants to go back to serving his master. But there's a problem.
He cannot be received. He has wronged his master by
law. He should not be received. He
should simply be punished. What does he need? He needs an
intercessor. You need somebody who can make
peace on behalf of an offending servant unto an offended master,
ruler. That's what this is all about.
Now, before we get into it, let's have a word of prayer. Our Father in heaven, Lord, we
come to you this day in the high and holy name of your Son and
our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. We ask, Lord, that as we go through
this book, that you would open your word to us. Lord, we ask
that you wouldn't just reveal doctrine to us, but you would
reveal Christ to us. That we would see him, Lord, as our effective
intercessor. Lord, our only hope is standing
before you in peace. Lord, bless us, walk with us.
We ask all these things in Christ's name, amen. Let's read verses one and two. Paul, a prisoner of Jesus Christ,
Timothy our brother, unto Philemon our dearly beloved and fellow
laborer, and to our beloved Aphia, and Archippus our fellow soldier,
and to the church in thy house." Now Paul names about four different
people here he is writing to. You have this man Archippus and
he is likely the pastor in this church in Colossae. He is mentioned
in Colossians 4 and Paul refers to him as a minister of the Gospel.
You have this woman Aphia, she is probably Philemon's wife.
Notice also that the epistle is written to the church. He
addresses the entire church. He says this letter is not a
private letter. I want you to share this with the entire congregation.
He doesn't just want Philemon to receive Onesimus. He wants
the entire congregation, the entire house, everybody, forgive
this man, because I say so, and forget what he has done and receive
him as a brother. It's good advice. Finally, this
man, Philemon. Now, from what Paul tells us
about this man, this man was clearly very wealthy. He had
a very large house. He had many servants. servants,
man servants, things like that. And it is believed that this
church in Colossae was actually built on his property. So, he
was the one who was actually funding the entire thing. This
man was a powerful man as far as men go. This was a kind and
a generous man. This was a wealthy man. This
man was a good ruler and he was a good master. His type in this
story is that of God the Father. Now look at verse 3, Grace to you and peace from God
our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank my God making
mention of thee always in my prayers, hearing of thy love
and faith which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus and toward all
the saints. Now, notice what Paul hoped for
these people. He said, grace and peace be unto
you. And here we have the beginnings
of the chain of the Gospel, the chain of salvation. Where does
salvation begin? The grace of God. According to
this book, before time began, God graciously elected, He chose
a particular people in Christ Jesus unto this purpose. them
the very grace of God, to save them, to rain down His loving
kindness upon them, although they would depart, although they
would war against Him, although they would naturally hate them.
The grace of God is upon these particular people. Where does
salvation begin? Does it begin with the will of man? Does it
begin with man's efforts? No, it begins with the grace
and gracious purpose of God. But what had to happen before
that grace could rain down upon these people to save had to be
served. Somebody had to make peace with
the offending servants, us, the elect, and the offended Master. That wedge that was driven between
the Master, our Lord the Father, and between us. What is that?
That's our sin. And this is what the Lord Jesus Christ did for
His people. Colossians 1.20, and having made peace with through the blood of His cross. Notice the wording there, having
made peace, not having made a partial peace that you now have to complete.
not having made a shaky peace that is subject to change. It
says, having made peace when the Lord Jesus Christ went to
the cross bearing the sins of His people and He suffered and
died under the wrath of God. Here is what happened, that wedge
that divided God the Father and His people was removed and now
nothing prohibits the Father from raining down His grace,
and His mercy, and His loving kindness upon everybody Christ
died for. This is the chain of salvation
and this is where it begins. Why was Paul so confident that
these people had this grace and peace? We'll go to verse five
again. Hearing of thy love and faith,
without exception, everyone who has the grace of God upon them,
and Christ has made their peace with God, they have these two
things. They believe the gospel. believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
alone. Ask them who they are they will
tell you this, I'm a sinner. I have absolutely nothing before
God. I cannot make my peace with God. I cannot earn favor with
God. Everything I do is sin. And if God gave me what I deserved
in and of myself He would send me to hell and He would be right
and He would be holy. My only hope is that Christ has made
my peace with God and now the grace of God rains down on me
because that peace has been accomplished. They believe on Christ and they
love Him. They love Him, and they love
the brethren. But I'm very, very thankful for
this. You'll notice in verse five there, He does not qualify
that word love. He does not speak of their great
love, and He does not speak of their super amounting love. He
simply says this, your love, that's it. Why is that comforting?
Because sometimes in us, by the grace of God, that fire does
burn very hot, doesn't it? nothing I enjoy more than the
Lord emptying a man of Himself, filling him with the Word of
God, and causing him to preach that in power to me, a sinner."
And I hear it as a sinner. There is nothing that makes my
heart burn more to think of this man because that is exactly who
He is. He is a God-man who lovingly gave Himself for me. There is
nothing that spurs more love in my heart than thinking of
that. But what happens when it's not like that? What happens when that raging
fire isn't raging and it's just a few little embers that feel
like they can be extinguished at any minute? Here's the case. I am the Lord, I change not,
therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. Here's this great
hope that as we wax and wane, love, His love for us, it never
departs, and it never changes. He is always faithful to us,
and He has always loved us with that everlasting love that will
never change. Now, look over at verse six. Paul says that the communication
of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every
good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus." Now, clearly these
people, these people who attended this church in Colossae, they
were very faithful witnesses. Paul talks about the communication
of their faith. And this is a one verse commentary
on true gospel preaching. What is it to preach the gospel?
Paul says the communication of your faith. It is one beggar,
one sinner. telling another beggar, another
sinner, where he got bread, where he found mercy, where he found
grace. It's all in Christ Jesus. Peter said this, be ready always
to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason for
the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. I found mercy. A sinner, I found it. I found
the grace of God. Here's where it's at. It's in
this man, Christ Jesus. No sinner will be turned down
going to him. Everybody who comes to Him as a sinner and needs
Him to do all the work, He does every bit of it, go to Him. The
communication of your faith. But He doesn't stop there. He
says, that the communication of thy faith may become effectual
by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you, which
is in Christ Jesus. Right now, if all your hope is
in the Lord Jesus Christ and Him alone, I want you to understand,
you are the wealthiest person on the face of the earth. Whether
you dwell here in rags or you live in a mansion, the truth
concerning you is that you have great wealth. What do you have?
You have the free, full forgiveness of sins by God himself. You have
full acceptance with God. You have access to grace. You
have a righteousness that will actually stand the test of the
law. You have true holiness, which
means this state, this righteous state, this state of perfection
before God, it's immutable. It will never change. Your storehouses
are completely full. And here's what we do. We point
men to the treasury, to the bank. Where is all that wealth stored? It's found in Christ Jesus. As He has acceptance with His
Father, I have acceptance with the Father. As He is holy, sanctifies,
and them that are sanctified are all of one. Therefore He
is not ashamed to call us brethren, as He is so are we in this world."
As He has free access to God to come into the presence of
the Father anytime He wants. And He's always looked at favorably.
We have all that. Why? In Christ where we are stored. We point men to the treasury
where all the wealth is stored. It's all in Christ. The linchpin
of that entire verse though is this word, effectual. that the
communication of thy faith may become effectual. A man can stand
up here or witness to someone, and he can have all the right
words, and he can have all the right doctrine, and he can say
all the right things, and he can say it more sharply and more
clearly than any man ever has. But if the Lord does not take
that and make it effectual, apply it to the heart, and give a new
heart to the hearer, it's nothing. And at that same time, and I'm
very thankful for this, he can take a man who is stumbling all
over the place and falling all over himself and can barely put
a sentence together, and he can take that word and he can make
it effectual. It all hinges on this, the power
and the will of God. Now Paul is going to get to the
heart of the matter. Look at verse 8. Wherefore, though I might be
much bold in Christ to enjoin thee that which is convenient,
yet for love's sake I rather beseech thee, being such in one
as Paul the aged and now also a prisoner of Jesus Christ, I
beseech thee for my son Onesimus, whom I have begotten bonds. Now, Paul is shifting gears here,
he was speaking to the entire Church. Now he is speaking particularly
to Philemon. And here is what he is saying
to Philemon, he is saying, Philemon I'm going to ask you for something.
I'm going to ask you to do something. And this thing that I'm going
to ask you I have the power to command you, and you must obey
me. Paul was an Apostle, he was He
was coming in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he had
the power to command Philemon to do this as a law. But what
he says is this, he goes, that's not my appeal. The law is not
my appeal. Why? Because if you put a man
under the law, you put him under bondage, what's the only thing
it's going to prove? man will break that law." That's
it. My appeal is not law. My appeal is not a command. My
appeal here is this, I'm appealing on the grounds of love, of gentleness,
and meekness. And look, Paul was very confident
that Philemon would do what he asked him to do. Look at verse
20, it says, "'Yea, brother, let me have joy of thee in the
Lord, and Refresh my bowels in the Lord, having confidence in
thy obedience I wrote unto thee, knowing, that word knowing, having
full confidence that thou wilt also do more than I say. He comes to Philemon, he says
this, I could order you, I could command you to do this, but that
is not my appeal. I am coming to you on the grounds
of love, on the grounds of meekness, and gentleness, and kindness,
and I know this, you're going to do exactly what I asked you
to do. Here's what I thought of. The
gospel comes to a man as a command. literally by the Spirit and power
of God dragged to Christ. That's why the sovereignty of
God is absolutely necessary in our salvation because if it is
left up to us in any way to come to Christ to believe on Him we
will be lost. That long arm of sovereignty
must come out and grab us and literally drag us to Christ and
put us down and cause us to believe on Him. That's the truth. It's
a command and that command is always obeyed. And that is not
our experience at all. is our experience. This is Isaiah
118, "'Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord. Though
your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow. Though
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.'" Now notice
the power in that statement, the confidence in which that
statement is given. Your sins are red like scarlet,
the stain is deep. shall be white as snow." It's
already white as snow. I've already taken away the stain. You're pure. You're clean. Now,
here's what I'm going to do. Since I've made you that way,
since I took away the stain and I've made you white as snow,
I'm going to sit down and reason with you. This is what the Lord
does in the hearts of every one of His people at His time. He
sits us down individually and He reasons with us in the heart.
This way you are, This way you feel about me, this natural hatred,
it's unreasonable. You cannot win this battle. I
did not pick this fight with you, you picked this fight with
me, and you cannot win. This is unreasonable. The way
you're coming, the way of your own works, trying to seek acceptance
with me, you know I can't accept anything that comes from you.
This is completely and utterly unreasonable. Let us reason together,
sayeth your God, I provided a sacrifice. I provided a substitute. You're
not going to do a thing. Just rest. Just look to Him. And when He reasons with us,
we are reasoned with. It comes as a command, a command
that no man can deny, and yet what's the experience of that
command? A gracious and a gentle wooing. Just sit down. I'm going
to reason with you. Now Paul's going to begin his
intercession for Onesimus. I would encourage you as we read
verses 10 through 19, read these as the words of Christ toward
his father. I think you'll get more out of it if you read it
that way. Verse 10, I beseech thee for my son Onesimus,
whom I have begotten in my bonds, which in time past was to thee
unprofitable, but now profitable to thee and to me." Christ speaks
to His Father and He says, these unprofitable people, these people
who were worthless, who had absolutely no sum and substance to them
whatsoever, absolutely nothing but sin, I begotten them. I've
gotten them in my bonds. I was made a woman. I was made
under the law. I put myself under your holy
law, and here's what I did. I kept it perfectly. I put myself
under that bond. I put myself under the bond of
their sin. I took their sin in my body.
bore your wrath, and I put it away through my death. I begotten
them in my bonds, and because of what I did, I have now made
them profitable to you, Father." Profitable. They are now meat
for fellowship. They're now meat for communion.
They're now meat for union. They are very, very profitable
to us at this point. Because of what I have done for
these people, I've taken the unprofitable, and I have made
them profitable to you. Look at verse 12. whom I have sent again. Thou
therefore receive him, that is my own bowels, whom I would have
retained with me, that in thy stead he might have ministered
unto me in the bonds of the gospel." When Paul refers to the bowels,
What he's talking about there is the deep inner emotions. This is the seat of love. He's
saying, I love Onesimus as if he was my own son. That's how
much I love him. And this is what I want. I'll
tell you, Philemon, this is what I want. This is what I want more
than anything. I want him to stay right here with me. If I
didn't know he would be so profitable to you, if I didn't know he wouldn't
be such a blessing to you, I'd keep him right here with me because
I want him to be with me. I love this man. I enjoy him
so much. I don't want us to ever be separated.
Only because he'll be profitable to you am I going to send him
back. And that's exactly how Christ views his bride. I love
her. He loved us with an everlasting
love, therefore with loving kindness he hath drawn us. And this love
was so great and so deep He went to that cross. Now, I want you
to consider this for a moment. On that cross, he was absolutely
no victim. No one was twisting his arm.
No one was making him be there. He was there absolutely willingly
and absolutely voluntarily. Why? Because he was doing his
father's will, and he would always be faithful in obedience to his
father. But here's the other reason. For us, for his people,
sinners because He loved us so much He willingly went to a cross
and He willingly bled and died for this reason. Here's what
He said, John 17, 4, Father, I will that they also whom Thou
hast given Me be with Me where I am. He says, I will not be
separated from them. I cannot be without them. I will
have My bride and I will have her there with Me forever. And
therefore to have that He had to endure the cross. willingly,
he went voluntarily, he did it out of love. Look at verse 15, "'For perhaps
he therefore deported for a season, that thou shouldest receive him
forever.'" I think this is interesting. So, Philemon attended a church
where the Gospel was preached. doubt he made all his house go
to these services. And no doubt, of course, if the
Lord wanted to, he could have regenerated and saved Onesimus
under that preaching. But that was not his purpose,
and that was not his will. His purpose was for Onesimus to leave,
to sin against his master, although that was Onesimus' fault. then
to leave only to be brought back in Paul, under Paul's preaching,
only to be returned back to Philemon. And the whole thing from my standpoint
seems incredibly inefficient. But my ways are not your ways,
and my thoughts are not your thoughts, saith the Lord. And
here's the point I'm getting to. Paul says, perhaps He therefore
deported for a season that thou shouldest receive Him forever.
The Fall, the did man fall? Man fell because he revolted
against God. You and I, all in Adam, all in
one, all in one union, humanity, we revolted against God. That's
why we fell. And we did it according to the
good purpose and will of God. purpose. Why? That we might depart
in Adam for a short time. Adam was created upright. He
was created innocent. He was righteous. He had not
done that which is wrong, but He was not holy. He was mutable.
He could change. He could fall. And He proved
that because He did. it was inevitable. And we have
departed once in Adam for this purpose that we would be returned
in the Christ in a much better state. Not just upright, not
just innocent, but holy. Righteous, unapprovable, unblameable,
and that is a immutable state. That's a state that cannot change. Why? What is the bedrock of that?
Why can that not change? Because Christ cannot change. entire being is based off this
one man, this God-man Jesus Christ. And because He cannot change,
and His person cannot change, and His attributes cannot change,
and His love cannot change therefore we can never change. We deported
once in Adam only to be returned so much better in Christ never
to depart again. You think Onesimus was ever going
to leave Philemon again? No. No, he was going home to his
master never to depart again. Now look at verse 16, Not now as a servant, but above
a servant, a brother beloved, especially to me, but how much
more unto thee, both in the flesh and in the Lord, if thou count
me therefore a partner, receive him as myself. This is Christ speaking. Father,
you need a reason to receive them? You receive them as myself. We just talked about this. sanctified,
who sanctifyeth, and them that are sanctified are all of one. Therefore He is not ashamed to
call us brethren." Father, you need a reason to receive these
people? You have it right here. You receive them as myself. You
receive me, and when you receive me it's a package deal because
of our union. You get all of them too because
we are all one. We are all the same. Look at
Paul's comment here in verse 18, "'If he hath wronged thee,
or oweth thee aught, put that on mine account. I, Paul, have
written it with my own hand. I will repay it. Albeit, I do
not say to thee how thou owest unto me even thine own self besides."
Now, Paul is saying this, saying, Philemon, Onesimus has wronged
you. He owes you. Everything he's
done and everything he owes you, charge it to my account. You
hold me 100% responsible for that, and I am going to pay you
in full." And I think it's interesting here that Paul lays a guilt trip
on Philemon at the end of this verse. He says, "'Albeit, though,
I do not say how thou owest me even thine own self besides.'"
I don't know what happened there. I don't know if Paul actually
ended up saving Philemon's life in reality, or whether this had
something to do with him being saved under his preaching. But
in any case Paul throws a little guilt trip on him. But when you
read these as the words of Christ to his father, no guilt trip
is necessary. This is talking about that covenant
of grace before the world ever began. Christ standing before
his father saying, whatever they owe you, whatever debt they rack
up, whatever they do, you charge that to my account. And I'm gonna
pay that debt in full. In fact, I've already paid it.
I'm the lamb slain before the foundation of the world. Charge it to me. and let them
go free. Is this anybody speaking but
Christ himself? If you have a Bible like mine,
there is an interesting footnote at the end of this story. It's
right below the last verse and it says this. It says, written
from Rome to Philemon by Onesimus, a servant. Now Paul said he wrote this with
his own hand. Why does it say here in the footnote that Onesimus
wrote this? Paul did write this with his own hand. This is the
heart of Paul. This is the mind of Paul. Paul spoke every word,
but he also refers to himself this way. I'm Paul the aged.
I'm getting old. Eyes don't work as well as they
used to. Hand doesn't write as steady as it used to. Somebody
had to write all this down as Paul spoke. You know who wrote
it down? Old Onesimus. He sat there the entire time.
Pay it to him. Yeah, absolutely. Yes, receive
him as a supper. Yes, absolutely. This is fantastic. Who is going to deliver the letter?
Onesimus was. Onesimus was going to go stand
before Philemon and say, I want you to take me home. I've sinned
against you, but I want to return home. I want to be home again.
And Philemon's going to say, why? Give me one good reason
I should take you back. And he's going to hand him that
letter. Philemon opens that letter. He says, you have an effective
intercessor. I'm going to do all this for
Paul's sake. But for us folks, it's so much better than that.
There's probably some still hard feelings between Philemon and
between Onesimus. But with the Father and us, there
are no hard feelings. There is no ill will, because
the stain has been removed. The Father receives us, for Christ's
sake, as sons. Nothing less. His very children. We'll stop there.